MovieChat Forums > Porgy and Bess (1959) Discussion > Who sings what in film? Can someone make...

Who sings what in film? Can someone make a list?

posted 18 years ago by thmnc
5 replies | jump to latest

I have never seen the movie nor a performance of the opera. For decades I have listened to the soundtrack and loved it. However, I do not know what character/actor is singing or performing the songs and who is dubbing that particular number. Can someone give me a track list with the names of the character, actor (and person dubbing each song, when the latter is the case)?

FYI, my daughter purchased a CD of this soundtrack in Europe. It is excellent. Perhaps there they are not hamstrung by the conflict as we are here. Makes me wonder if the movie was ever released as a video in Europe.

Thank you
Trudy

[–] justoldbill 18 years ago

PORGY AND BESS soundtrack listing-
1- Overture
2- Summertime- Loulie Jean Norman for Diahann Carroll (Clara), Chorus
3- A Woman Is A Sometime Thing- Leslie Scott (Jake), Earl Jackson (Mingo), Cab
Calloway for Sammy Davis, Jr. (Sportin' Life), Chorus
4- The Wake- Gone, Gone, Gone- Chorus / Porgy's Prayer- Robert McFerrin for
Sidney Poitier (Porgy), Chorus
5- My Man's Gone Now- Inez Matthews for Ruth Attaway (Serena), Chorus
6- I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'- Robert McFerrin, Chorus
7- Bess, You Is My Woman Now- Robert Mc Ferrin, Adele Addison for Dorothy
Dandridge (Bess)
8- Morning, Catfish Row- Chorus
9- Oh, I Can't Sit Down- Pearl Bailey (Maria), Chorus
10- It Ain't Necessarily So- Cab Calloway, Chorus
11- I Ain't Got No Shame- Chorus
12- What You Want With Bess?- Adele Addison, Brock Peters (Crown)
13- Street Cries- Strawberry Woman- Helen Thigpen (Strawberry Woman)/ Crab Man-
Undocumented, played in film by unbilled Scatman Caruthers
14- I Loves You, Porgy- Robert McFerrin, Adele Addison
15- A Red-Headed Woman- Brock Peters, Chorus
16- Clara, Clara- Chorus
17- There's A Boat That's Leavin Soon For New York- Cab Calloway
18- Oh, Where's My Bess?- Robert McFerrin
19- I'm On My Way- Robert McFerrin, Chorus

Note- Sammy Davis, Jr. did his own singing in the film, but his contract with Decca would not allow his participation on the album, so Columbia tracked in Cab Calloway, the Sportin' Life of the Breen-Davis tour.

Trivia- Along with Cab Calloway, Leslie Scott (Jake), Helen Thigpen (Strawberry Woman) and Earl Jackson (Mingo) were also members of the tour. Scott was an alternate Porgy, Thigpen was an alternate Serena, and Jackson was an alternate Sportin' Life. (Giving you a recording of "A Woman Is A Sometime Thing" with two Sportin' Lifes and a Porgy!) Maya Angelou, a dancer in the film, was also in this tour. Helen Thigpen married Earl Jackson during the tour, as well.

Brock Peters sang the role of Jim in Columbia/Sony's 1951 recording of PORGY AND BESS under his real name, George Fisher, and Leslie Scott recorded some cuts in the 1950's as a result of the tour.

Veteran actor Leigh Whipper had been cast as the Crab Man, but withdrew in the fracas of Otto Preminger taking over the direction. The role was recast with an unbilled Scatman Caruthers- vocal undocumented.

Supposedly, Inez Matthews was signed to play Serena and then withdrew. Her voice remains, emanating from the wonderful Ruth Attaway.

The vocal track of "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'" on the album differs from the one used in the film.

The position of "Morning, Catfish Row" on the CD reflects its position on the original LP- it was the first cut on Side 2. In the film, it is in its proper spot, the opening of the last scene, preceding "Oh, Where's My Bess?"

True, the soundtrack CD releases issued in Europe and Japan were not subject to the contractural/copyright restrictions existing in the US. With the appearance of two tracks on Sony's THE ESSENTIAL GEORGE GERSHWIN CD, hopefully things might change. And, no, the film itself has not been commercially released on DVD or VHS anywhere ever.

[–] margeliz 18 years ago

wOW!!!!...:)))) WHAT A WONDERFUL PIECE OF INFORMATION YOU GAVE TO US. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!..

[–] justoldbill 18 years ago

My pleasure.

[–] don-ellis 17 years ago

I just heard a memorial talk show on NPR talk radio (local program - St. Louis On The Air on KWMU.org), on the death last week of Robert McFerrin (voice for Sidney Poitier's Porgy), and it brought back memories of having seen the movie as a child. We went to a drive in theater because it was more comfortable for my parents (having a small child). I may not have fully appreciated McFerrin's performance at the time, but I especially enjoyed it when I saw the show on TV many years later, sometime in the early '70s. I had not remembered that Sindney Poitier was the visual performer, but this did not sound like his singing I've heard in other films (don't know if they were dubbed or real).

Although the story line is quite sordid (consistent with most operas), the music is up there with the best operas, and the performances were splendid. And, the story line ties in to our American heritage much more closely (too close for comfort?) than European opera.

This suite of products (film and cast recording) constitute an American treasure. It is sad that McFerrin did not leave more recordings.

McFerrin will be missed.

PS - Near the end of the show, they played 'Ave Maria' with McFerrin singing, accompanied by his son Bobby (as an instrument, very well played). Moving.

[–] shifrel2001 17 years ago

OK YOURE VERY GOOD. I DID NOT REALIZE THAT ANY BODY ELSE KNEW SAMMY DAVIS DIDNT SING. I GUESS YOU HAVE THE COLOMBIA RECORDS SOUNDTRACK TOO. ALLAN